Welcome to the new website of the Canadian Network on Humanitarian History: aidhistory.ca. In this website you will find the materialization of the wishes of the members of the network, who expressed their feelings and necessities on what the website should include during the Second Canadian Workshop on the History of Humanitarian Aid, which was held on May 30 2015.

By Rebecca Henfrey

Establishing a Program Mandate; what kind of deliverables are we looking for?

Knowledge Mobilization: One of the most important goals of undertaking these projects is demonstrating their practicality. NGOs want you to be able to show that the knowledge you gather has value and from there the community is invested. If there is a formulaic way to do this and potentially demonstrate how this can aid in funding, it can serve to work for both parties involved.

Methodology and Information Sharing: This network will be used to share syllabi, teaching resources and materials and workshops. Individuals will be able to blog about their teaching experiences and perhaps elaborate more upon their professional and practical experiences in this field, providing information on their methodologies

Networking and Twitter: Twitter can not only be used as a teaching resource, it can also be used as a platform to set up courses and integrate teaching about humanitarian agencies an NGOs into ‘mainstream’ courses as it allows professors to broaden their approach.

Module Development and Shared Classes: One potential project that can be undertaken by multiple individuals is the development of modules that can be placed in a classroom or workshop environment. It would be a helpful resource that could be provided to instructors without requiring them to do too much legwork.

Cultivation of Collaborative Discussion: The encouragement of collaborative discussion within the website’s forums was identified as a key priority for the program. Finding a way to connect individuals, whether that be for the purposes of scholarly feedback or discussion amongst students, researchers, instructors and other members is very important.

Growth of Membership: Once a critical mass of members has been reached, the chances of organizing a conference increase. Currently there is a sense of isolation due to the fact that this is a developing field. One proposed way to encourage membership numbers was to engage postgrad students. Because of the emerging and developing nature of this field, it has to be done organically, from the bottom up with engagement alongside deliverance of information.

Attendance of Conferences: Another mandate of this program was to reach out to other historians and practitioners in the field by attending conferences. CCI was listed as a potential

Establish methods of relationship buildlng

Final Priorities; as identified and recorded on whiteboard and through discussion

Establish and maintain trust between NGOs and Researchers

Keep distance and respect in these relationships

Look at models of partnership

ODI

Non-State Humanitarianism

Humanitarian history as a part of history of imperialism, globalization, development

Share readings, contacts

Organization of academic panels

Publication of special issues of journals

Establishment of international networks

Teach, supervise and discuss

Interest and organize volunteer work

Foster inter-disciplinarity in research and work

Workshop in NGO building next time?

Organize Archives/Research aids

Preserve archives

Identify content of photos

Identify and collect personal collections

Conduct oral histories

Present history of NGO website

Talks to create interest

History workshops for new NGO staff, to avoid mistakes and to raise funds

By Rebecca Henfrey

Future website

The second Major discussion of the day centered on the creation of the network’s website. Shawn Antcil, a web developer and designer from Carleton University ran this presentation and recorded the feedback given by members. The following is a brief summary of considerations and proposals put forth by Shawn and other various individuals.

By Rebecca Henfrey

Introductions

Prior to the first official discussion of the day, participants were invited to give personal introductions. The following are brief summaries of each individual’s introductions, which outline their name, position or involvement with this society and what they would like this workshop to do for them.